Goodbye Catherine

A couple of days ago Catherine Alexander, a friend from Scotland who has been sent from the Vine Trust to volunteer here with Scripture Union, came to her last day here in Peru. For the last eight months she has been working in our schools program and at our boys' home at Kusi. She is a teacher by profession, so she spent all of last year teaching English classes in the schools as well as working with and tutoring our Girasoles. Everyone who I talked with at Kusi had only great things to say about her. She gave up a year of work and job interviews to sacrifice her time down here in Peru. She loves God, and she loved her work with the kids. She will be missed down here, but I know that God will continue to use her back in Scotland. Please join me in praying for her and in praying that God will provide a solid job for her as she begins the search.

 Saying goodbye to Catherine at the airport

Some short videos from Kate

This Christmas, my friend Kate Bruder, her mom, and her brother all came down to visit some of Scripture Union's different street boys' homes. They arrived in Peru on Christmas evening, spent a few days in Ica where I got to see them, and then they traveled to Kusi to bring in the new year. It was a blessing to be able to see some friends from back home, and it gave my family a chance to send some cookies and other Christmas gifts from home!

Kate is a great photographer, but this year she spent more time taking video shots of they boys at the different homes. She posted them on Vimeo, and I thought that I would pass some of them on to you guys!



Sleeping from Kate Bruder on Vimeo.
After a long day of adventures, these boys from Girasoles Ica were exhausted and ended up falling asleep at the dinner table.



Playing from Kate Bruder on Vimeo.
Juan Carlos and Sanchez playing with Billy in the courtyard of the Girasoles Ica home.



Sanchez and Pampachay from Kate Bruder on Vimeo.
Sanchez being silly with Billy while Pampachay practices in the background.



Sanchez Greetings from Kate Bruder on Vimeo.
Sanchez, from the Casa Girasoles Ica home.

Medical Clinic at Kusi

Well my last work team was quite different than all of the other work teams that I have hosted this year. Most teams that come to Peru with Scripture Union come to help with building construction and sometimes to run a type of vacation Bible school for the boys at the different homes. My last group, however, was focused on medicine. Scripture Union's site called Kusi is located about 9 hours north of the city by bus, and the scope of the site goes far beyond just the ministry to abandoned children. On our property we also have a camp site, a primary school, and municipal building for offices and conferences, and a few apartments that are near completion to be rented out as part of our income generating projects. There are also plans to build a chapel, a shoe shop, a small artisan factory/shop, a bakery, and perhaps a hostel as well. The next big project at Kusi, though, is a medical post for the local community. That is where the medical team comes into the picture.

Before beginning the project, Scripture Union needed some sort of data to assess the needs of the local community. We wouldn't want to build a medical post if there really was no need. Monday through Friday of last week we held a free clinic at Kusi for anyone who wanted to come. When all was said and done, we attended to around 700 different patients during the week. In addition to the medical clinic, the group had also worked to develop a survey that we could conduct to assess the needs of the community.

I am obviously not a doctor, and for those of you who know me, you know that I really do not have a stomach for anything that has to do with blood and needles. I worked for the week mostly as a translator. Sometimes I translated between doctors and patients, and at other times I translated the survey to patients while they were waiting in line to be seen.

Two parts of the week really stand out to me. Firstly, as I was taking in the surveys I was really reminded of the needs of people in rural areas of Peru such as this. Virtually no house had a real bathroom. Most people in the area only studied through primary school, and many people even less than that. A fair amount of people couldn't even sign their own names to give consent to their participation in the survey. Instead, that would color all over their index fingers with a ball point pen so that they could finger print instead of sign. The people mostly work in the fields of the wealthy land owners, and that work is seasonal at best. Most men averaged about three work days per week earning between 15 and 25 soles per day (that is somewhere between $5 to $8 for the entire day's work). Virtually all of the families living in these communities qualify for the state funded medical insurance, but almost none of them are insured. They are not educated, and some didn't seem to have even heard of any type of medical insurance. Even if they are insured, receiving medical care means walking down to the nearest hospital. In many cases the walk is more than an hour long for a person who is in good health.

The second part of the week that really stood out to me happened on the very last day of our clinic in Kusi. I was translating for a doctor, and our next patient was a 26 year old girl. As we began to ask her why she had come to the clinic she was obviously a little bit uncomfortable. As the doctor asked some more questions, the girl just burst into tears. When she was 7 years old she had been raped by a neighbor, and then the same thing happened again about one year ago. She had some significant medical problems that came as a result of her story, but the deepest scar was the emotional one. Neither myself, nor the doctor attending to this girl was well qualified to give her the counseling that she needed, but as soon as Rosa (the house mother for the boys at Kusi) heard about the situation, she dropped everything to come and sit and talk with this girl. I really believe that God used Rosa on that day. She herself was still recovering from a very large operation, and she wasn't supposed to leave the house or do any type of work. But she insisted on talking with this girl. They talked for a good half an hour. They opened the Bible together, and Rosa invited the girl to come to church with them. I am so thankful that someone was there to talk to this girl and share all of God's promises even in the midst of some really deep pain.

My understanding is that this type of abuse and domestic violence is far too common in the mountain communities in Peru. In fact, the youngest girl to ever become a mother comes from a place not too far from Kusi. She was about eight years old. There is so much need in the area that it can be overwhelming at times. I would ask that you remember these people in your prayers, and that you pray for Scripture Union's work there in Kusi as well. Pray that God would grant wisdom as we begin to move forward with the medical clinic. Pray for the future patients of our clinic--that we would be able to minister to them both physically and spiritually. We live in a world with so much need. I am thankful to be able to rest in the fact that we serve a good God who is bigger than all of the needs!

I'm Still Here

Hello friends! I realize that it has been far too long since my last blog update, but things have been quite crazy around here. After completing my two month stay in Cusco with workteams, my family came down to visit for a couple of weeks. It was great to see them all. My mom, dad, brother, and sister came to visit, and we had a blast. Almost immediately after my family left, I was back on the road with more work groups. It is different than my first few months with work teams though. During the height of the summer, we had a number of volunteer interns/translators to help host the different teams that come to partner with Scripture Union. Now all of them have gone back home, and I am one of the only people left to host the remaining teams. We have less teams at a time in Peru during September and October, but it means that I have to travel with them rather than remain stationary at one site. From the beginning of August through the first week in November, my travel schedule looks like this: Cusco - Lima - Kawai - Kusi - Lima - Cusco - Lima - Cusco - Kusi - Cusco - Lima - Kusi - Cusco - Lima - Kusi - Cusco - Lima - Kusi - Lima! It is quite a bit of plane rides and bus trips, but I enjoy doing it. It is great to be with a group for the duration of their time here in Peru. Even as I write this post I am on a bus from Lima to Kusi (8 or 9 hour ride) with a group from Scotland.

Over the next few weeks I will try to update my posts a little bit more often as well as fill you all in on some stories, experiences, and pictures from my last couple of months here in Peru. For now I will leave you with a few prayer requests.

--For my health and the general health of the teams. For the most part I have been pretty healthy since I have arrived here in Peru, other than the fact that I seem to have a minor cold every other week. A cold is not a huge problem, but sometimes it makes doing my job a little bit more difficult when trying to be upbeat with the groups that come through here.

--For the work teams during these next few months. Many of the people on my next couple of work teams are not church groups, and only a handful of the members are Christians. Pray that God would work in their lives as the see the ministry here in Peru and as they see faith in action.

Thanks for reading. Once I get to a better internet connection, I will work on posting new photos!

I'm Back!

Hey everyone...I know that it has been more than one month since my last post, and the goal is not to let that happen again. Being one full month since my last post, I have quite a bit that I can write about. Rather than putting everything all into one long post, I think that I will write a number of short posts over the next week or two. Also, make sure to check out my new pictures from May and June.

I have now switched gears--from working in the schools in Lima to working with American and Scottish short term missions teams who come to support the street boys' ministry that we have here. I have enjoyed the switch and the change of pace, but it is quite busy here. I traveled with my first two teams to one of our boys' homes called Kusi. In the Quechua language that is indigenous to Peru's sierra, the word Kusi is used for three separate English words: (1) Contentment, (2) Happiness, and (3) Joy. The word Kusi also fits very well with the name of our street children program--"Girasoles" or "Sunflowers" in English. In Peruvian culture to label a boy with a name like sunflower has no girly connotation as it would back in the States. The reason the boys here and all over Peru are called Girasoles, we hope that they will turn from the darkness towards the Light, the Son of God just as a sunflower turns to follow the light of the sun as it moves across the sky throughout the day. Only when the kids turn towards the Son can they find true Kusi.

Over the past couple of years that I have had the chance to become familiar with the site of Kusi, and for me personally it has certaintly lived up to its name. I have been blessed with a great friendship of the house parents in Kusi, Angel and Rosa, the scenery is beautiful (at the base of the tallest mountain in Peru), and it is always a joy to work with the kids at the home as well as share the ministery with the different short term groups.

At the base of the mountain near Kusi

After my few weeks in Kusi, I headed straight down to Cusco where we have our newest Girasoles home. It opened just over a year ago in March 2008, and there are already 42 children living here. My job from now through August is to work as the site coordinator here in Cusco. It is up to me to host, translate, and figure out all of the logistics of transportation, lodging, food, and ministry for all of the short term teams. I will talk more about Cusco and the ministry here in later posts. I will leave you with this short video (sorry for the poor quality) of one of the new seven wonders of the world--Machu Picchu! While most of the work teams that come here to Cusco spend a tour day at Machu Picchu, I rarely accompany them. In the case of my first team in June, my friend Polly had planned on going with the group, but then decided that she wanted to meet up with a friend who lives in the city of Cusco during the groups Machu Picchu day. I was happy to take the ticket off of her hands, and enjoyed having a tour day with the work team!

Also, I wanted to leave you with a few prayer requests. As I have talked and emailed with many of you, I have been reminded over and over again that so many people are praying for me and the ministry here. Thanks so much. I continue to covet your prayers.

--Pray me as I adjust to the pace of hosting work teams. The job extends far beyond the regular 8 hours a day, 5 days a week time period. When there is a group here in Cusco, I am almost always on the clock. Pray that God would give me strength to be able to encourage the short-term teams in their ministry. I will be in Cusco full time until August 8, then I have a few week break when my mom, dad, brother, and sister are coming down to visit. And after they leave I have a pretty full schedule with work teams through the middle of October.

--Another difficulty that I have during work team season is that life is very much like a roller coaster. Just as I start to become accustomed to one group of people, they leave, and I start over again. I am very thankful for the other Scripture Union staff that live here in Cusco. They have become good friends quite quickly, and they are a welcomed constant here where life has so many changes.

--Pray for all of the work teams this summer. We are know into the middle of the season, and there are traveling within the country a whole lot. Pray for their health and safety. Pray for God to work in their lives--that they would not go home the same as when they arrived here. Pray also for their ministry be it medical, construction, or with the boys--that their hearts would be overflowing with God's love and that God would use their efforts to further His Kingdom!